Name- shailesh kumar ,Roll.no.- 48; RD-I; Sub.- Mgmt.

of Land & Water

Resources

Types of Soils
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research set up an All-India Soil Survey
Committee, which reported in 1963. It divided Indian Soil in 8 different
categories. Some of which are quite inclusive of a rather wide variety of soil
conditions while others have quite uniform and consistent soil characteristic
throughout. These eight groups soil type, their places of occurrence, vegetation
in these kind of lands and special crops of these soils are as under-
Type Characteristics Places of Vegetatio Special
occurrence n crops
Red Red colour is due to various Red soil occurs Natural Bajra,
soils oxides of iron. They are extensively in vegetation cotton,
poor in N, P, K and with pH Andhra Pradesh, consist of wheat,
varying 7 to 7.5. These soils Assam, Bihar, Goa, scanty thorny pulses,
are light textured with Parts of kerala, and bushy millets,
porous structure. Lime is Maharastra, vegetation groundnuts,
absent with low soluble Karnataka, with sparce sugarcane,
salts. The red soils differ Tamilnadu and West local grasses. potatoes,
greatly in consistency, Bengal. Most of the and fruits.
colour,depth and fertility. red soils have been
 On the uplands, they are classified in the
thin, gravelly, sandy, or order ' Alfisols'. It
stony and porous, light covers in all about
coloured soils. But on the 5.18 lakh sq. km of
lower plains and valleys area.
they are rich, deep dark
coloured fertile loam.
Laterit Seen in high rainfall areas, These occurs most Mixed Extensive
ic Soils under high rainfall extensively and evergreen area under
conditions silica is released cover an area of and Reserve
and leached down wards about 2,48,000 sq. deciduous Forest.
and the upper horizons of km. They are tropical Cashew
soils become rich in oxides distributed in forests. plantations
of iron and alluminium. The summits of hills of are
texture is light with free Daccan karnataka, scattered.
drainage structure. Kerala, Rubber
Clay is predominant and Madhyapradesh, plantations
lime is deficient. pH 5 to 6 Ghat regions of are being
with low in base exchange Orissa, Andhra tried.
capacity, contained more pradesh, Maharastra
humus and are well drained. and also in West
These soils are generally Bengal, Tamilnadu
poor in N, P, K and organic and Assam.
matters but are responsive Most of the laterite
to nitrogen and phosphate soils have been
mannuring and hence classified in the
produce good crops. order ' ultisols' and a
few under ' oxisols'.
Alluvia These are the most These soils occupy Cactus, short Rice,
l Soils important soils from the extensive tracts of grass, Palm, Sugarcane,
agriculture point of view. land in about 15 lakh Accacia, Jute,
The soils are sandy loam to sq. km. in North- Zizyphus, Tobacco,
clay loam with light grey Western and North- loving plants. banana,
colour to dark colour, Eastern parts of India cotton,
structure is loose and more and include greater Wheat,
fertile. But the soils are low parts of Rajasthan, Maize,
in NPK and humus. Punjab, Haryana, oilseeds,
They are well supplied with Utter Pradesh, North Vegetables
lime; base exchange Western part of and Fruits.
capacity is low, pH ranges Delhi, Bihar, Parts of
from 7 to 8. Assam, parts of Garo
Hills,West Bengal,
Orissa, Parts of M.P &
Gujarat, deltaic
areas of Godawari,
Krishna, and Cauvery
in Southern India.
Black This is well known group of These soils cover an Xerophytic Cotton,
Soils soils characterised by dark area of about bushy, thorny wheat,
grey to black colour with 5,46,000 sq. km. plants, chillies,
high clay content. Major black soils are predominantl linseed,
They are neutral to slightly found in Maharastra, y Zizyphus , jowar,
alkaline in reaction. Deep Madhyapradesh, trees of Virginia
cracks develop during Gujarat and Accacia tobacco,
summer, the depth of the Tamilnadu, Southern Arabica, date castor,
soil varies from less than a Rajasthan and and in palm, neem, safflower
 meter to several meters. U.P. mango, dhub and millets.
Poor free drainage results in grass and Vegetables
the soils, base exchange is miscellaneou of different
high with high pH and rich s bushes and kinds and
in lime and potash. grass. citrus fruits.
Desert These soils are mostly They occur under Thin grass Very few
Soils sandy to loamy fine sand arid and semi-arid and deserted crops,
with brown to yellow brown conditions and xerophytic. specially
colour, contains large occupy large tracts coarse
amounts of soluble salts in Rajasthan, millets,
and lime with pH ranging Haryana and South jowar and
8.0 to 8.5. Nitrogen content Punjab. bajra are
is very low. grown.
The presence of Phosphate
and Nitrate make the desert
soils fertile and productive
under water supply.
Peaty These soils occur in humid Marshy soils are ------------------- On these
and regions with accumulation found in costal tracts --- soils, paddy
Marsh of high organic matter. of Orissa, in the is grown
y Soils During monsoons the soils Sundarbans and when water
get submerged in water and other places in West recedes.
the water receipts after the Bengal in the central
monsoon during which portion of north
period rice is cultivated. Bihar, in the Almora
Soils are black clay and district of U.P. and in
highly acidic with pH of 3.5. the South-East coast
Free alluminium and ferrous of Tamilnadu.
 sulphate are present.
The depressions formed by
dried rivers and lakes in
alluvial and coastal areas
sometimes give rise to
water logged soils and such
soils are blue in colour due
to the presence of ferrous
iron. The soils are generally
submerged under water
during the monsoon.
Saline Saline soils contain excess Both kinds of salt ------------------- Rice, wheat,
and of natural soluble salts effected soils occur --- cotton,
Alkalin dominated by chlorides and in different parts of banana,
e Soils sulphates which affects India like sugarcane,
plant growth. Sodic or alkali Uttarpradesh, coconut ant
soils contain high Haryana, Punjab, tobacco.
exchangeable sodium salts. Maharastra,
Texturally they are sandy to Tamilnadu, Gujarat,
loamy sand. Rajastan and A.P.

Mount Most of these soils are low These soils cover ------------------- Tea,
ain in lime and are Acedic. In about 13,300sq.km --- temperate
and area of good rainfall, they mainly in Jammu and fruits and
Hill are rich in humus and vey Kashmir, H.P., may also be
Soils fertile for the cultivation. Punjab, U.P., Bihar, used for
West Bengal, Assam, growing
Tripura, Manipur, paddy.
Meghalaya, A.P., and
Nagaland, etc.